linked - Institut kurde de Paris

Revue de Presse-Press Review-Berhevoka Çapê-Rivista Stampa-Dentro de la Prensa-Basm Ozeti
cés sur la liste des organisations terroristes
de l'Union européenne, et que leurs
avoirs ont été gelés, au lendemain des
attentats du 11 septembre 2001, puisqu'ils
auraient renoncé à toute activité
militaire deplù~juin 2001.
Mm, Radjavi s'est félicitée de ce que la
Cour de justice des Communautés européennes
ait annulé, mardi, une décision
relative au gel de ces avoirs, prise en 2005
par le Conseil de l'Union européenne. Le
tribunal de première instance de l'institution
luxembourgeoise a jugé que la décision
n'était pas motivée, que les droits de
la défense n'avaient pas été respectés et
qu'il n'avait pu lui-même en contrôler la
légalité, faute de savoir avec certitude sur
quelle décision nationale elle se fondait.
Selon l'Ecossais Struan Stevenson (PPE-
DE), qui participait à la conférence de
presse de Mn" Radjavi, « c'est le Roya ume-
Uni qui a réclamé le gel de ces avoirs, parce
que les mollahs l'ont demandé à Jack
Straw».
Nouvelle décision
A Bruxelles, le chef du service juridique
du Conseil, Jean-Claude Piris, a indiqué
que l'Union européenne allait, à l'avenir,
améliorer ses procédures afin de les rendre
plus transparentes et plus respectueuses
des droits de la défense.
Une nouvelle décision devrait être prise
prochainement, selon ces nouvelles
procédures, sur le gel des avoirs. En attendant,
celui-ci est maintenu, la décision
annulée ayant été, entre-temps, remplacée
par une autre ... qui n'a pas encore été
attaquée.
Mm, Radjavi a assuré que l'arrêt du tribunal
allait permettre de rayer les MoudjalUdins
du peuple de la liste des organisations
terroristes. « Cet a/Têt confirme l'argument
de la résistance ira11lenne, selon
lequell'étiquette de "terroriste" est, depuis
le début, une question purement politique
destinée à apaISer les mollahs », a-t-elle
déclaré.
Questionnée sur la raison pour laquelle
elle pone un foulard, alors que sa compatriote
Shirin Ebadi, lauréate du prix
Nobel de la paix, a refusé de porter le hidjab,
obligatoire en Iran, pour recevoir son
prix en Norvège, Mn" Radjavi a répondu:
« Personne ne me l'a imposé; c'est le choix
libre de chaque femme de porter ce qu'elle
veut. » lIIl
THOMAS
ET RAFAELE
FERENCZI
RIVAIS
EU freeze on talks
'unfair to Turkey,'
Ankara declares
Dy Katrin Bennhold
BRUSSELS: Turkey reacted angrily
Tuesday to a decision by the European
Union to impose a partial freeze on
membership talks and said relations
were going through a difficult test.
The decision on Turkey set the scene
for a European summit meeting Thursday
where EU enlargement will figure
prominently. The next phase of expansion
takes place Jan. 1,with the entry of
Romania and Bulgaria increasing the
size of the bloc to 27 members.
EU foreign ministers agreed Monday
to punish Turkey for refusing to open
its ports and airports to Cyprus, an EU
member. They suspended talks on 8 of
the 35issues under negotiation ahead of
the possible accession of the mainly
Muslim country more than a decade
from now. The decision is expected to
be endorsed by EU leaders at their summit
talks on Thursday.
"This decision is unfair to Turkey,"
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan
said in a televised speech. "Let us not
forget that our friends in the EU aIso
have promises they have not fulfilled."
He said that relations between Turkey
and the EU were "going through a
serious test, despite aIl our efforts. "
Foreign Minister Abdullah Gui said
the EU's decision represented "a lack of
vision."
Turks are bitter that they are being
punished for not trading with Cyprus at
a time when the EU has not fulfilled a
two-year-old pledge to end a trade embar&o.on
the Turkish Cypriot north of
the island. They point out that Turkish
Cyriots backed a United Nations plan to
unify the island in 2004, while Greek
Cypriots in the south rejected it. But the
Greek part of the island still became a
member of the EU and now has veto
power over Turkish accession.
Egeman Bagis,Erdogan's chiefforeign
policy adviser, said the Cyprus dispute
was being used as a smokescreen in the
debate over whether Turkey should join
the EU. "Some countries in the EU unfortunately
want to keep it as a Christian
club," he said in a telephone interview.
"Some countries are using Cyprus -
and Cyprus is happy to be used."
The focus on Cyprus was also criticized
from a different direction. ' -
"The Cyprus issue has distracted
from the fundamental issues," said
Joost Lagendijk of the Netherlands,
chairman of the EU's Joint Parliamentary
Committee with Turkey.
"Human rights, minority rights,
women's rights, freedom of speech -
those are the issues that go to the heart
of Turkey's compatibility with the
European Union," he said .
A report by the European CommiSsion
last month that criticized Turkey's
refusai to trade with Cyprus also faulted
Ankara for backsliding on many
promised reforms. Turkey's limit~tion
of the rights of Kurds and other mmorities
was sharply condemned, as were
continuing reports of cases of t.orture
and limits on freedom of expressiOn.
Erdogan's govemment has still not
scraPJ?ed Article 301 of the penal code,
which has allowed the prosecution of
Turkish writers and academics for insulting
"Turkishness." A writer, Ipek
Calislar, and a publisher, Fatih Tas, are
scheduled to be tried under the measure
next week.
The fact that the EU's decision Monday
did not mention human rights violations
was criticized by an Armenian
lobby group. "The silence of the member
countries on other Turkish violations
are a lapse that seriously endangers
European integration," a statement from
the European Armenian Federation for
Justice and Democracy said.
Naif Bezwan, a Kurdish researcher at
Osnabrück University in Germany, said:
"Of course it's unacceptable that Turkey
does not recognize a member of the very
Union it wants to join, but when it comes
to Turkey's compatibility with the EU
the main issue is how Turkey deaIs with
religious and national minorities."
Lagendijk said he hoped that a pledge
Monday by EU foreign ministers to seek
an end to the economic isobtion of the
Turkish part of Cyprus over the next six
months would refocus the negotiations
on economic and political reforms.
"You would hardly find anyone in
Turkey siding with the EU on Cyprus,"
he said, "but you'll find a lot of people
calling for our support on human rights
and political reforms."
Erdogan on Tuesday vowed to press
ahead with reforms.
"Our reform process will continue
with the same decisiveness," he said.
, But Bagis, his adviser, said some damage
had already been done. Ahead of
presidential and legislative elections in
Turkey next year, the mood bas tumed
more nationalistic, and the EU's demand '
on Cyprus is one reason why support for
EU membership bas fallen sharply over
the last two years, analysts say.
'~l these statements take away the
people's motivation," Bagis said. "What
am 1supposed to tell our voter.s?"
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